Issue 1

by Alec Finlay ratio of the possible limit : limitless some live their lives in (brackets) while others dash– the concept of visibility is the summit invisible illnesses are the clouds our hands can sign the names of the mountains gathering new meanings with our fingertips someone who runs up mountains can learn from those who only sit and gaze we have a right to altitude to hold our heads above the clouds someday we all sink back to our resting view if all meaning is a trans

side effects to talking my voice loses its balance. words get tired, they slur. they become a mess of sound. unpronounced. my vocal cords seize. my brain no longer understands the english language. my tongue becomes languid, falls into a coma. my voice box closes its doors. my esophagus has a twelve verbatim pile up. i swallow the dead and the injured have amnesia. side effects to spasms or ticks, or tremors. my head jolts to the left three times in rapid motion. the stars m

Naturally Green of pine before blue of sky. Then what. Perhaps something important : what happens next is for you to decide as the sunlight bombards the earth and the earth in turn releases infrared energy that makes my skin feel almost too warm. I could think about anything I manage to think about and still the basket of my heart would lose precious contents. I could ask am I here or not here and still inconsequentiality would bloom. What does it mean to matter. Is this also

by Sandra Gail Lambert “ Real people who survived the unsurvivable ” is how the podcast OutAlive describes itself. Just from the name, we know these people don ’ t die. But that doesn ’ t mean no one else did or that they emerged with all their limbs (parachute snags on a cliff), their mental abilities (brain-eating virus), or even their faces (bear attack) intact. The podcast doesn ’ t have new episodes anymore, but I listen to the old ones again and again. Mostly, I liste

by Sumitra Singam The sac within my body will not expand to hold a baby. A child is born to a woman who cannot mother her, so I become her mother. She has eyes like a long curve of beach when they are closed. When they are open, they are the ocean itself. When I take my top off the first time with this man, I want to cross my arms. I say, “I feel vulnerable.”. He laughs and repeats the word “vulnerable,” twisting its syllables. I feel that twist like it is a pinch at my nippl

by Gabe Montesanti “Lose Yourself” is an excerpt from my book, Drag Thing: A Memoir of Mania and Mirrors , (Arsenal Pulp Press, April 2026). The book chronicles my immersion in the drag scene in St. Louis, Missouri and the way in which my drag persona and my rapid- cycling mania gradually become indistinguishable from each other. This chapter takes place in the first half of the book when I am befriending Rocky B. Goode, a non-binary drag performer, contending with difficulti

by Brenna Womer Brenna Womer (she/they) is a queer, sober, childfree, Latine prose writer, poet, and artist. She's the author of two full-length collections, Unbrained (FlowerSong Press, 2023) and Honeypot (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), and three chapbooks—most recently, Dear Mom (Petrichor, 2025). Her work across genres has appeared in North American Review , Blackbird , DIAGRAM , Pinch , Indiana Review , and elsewhere. She's an Assistant Professor of English teaching in the MFA p

by Catherine Garbinsky Catherine Garbinsky is a writer living in Knoxville, Tennessee, where they are a PhD candidate at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and serve as poetry co-editor for Grist . Catherine has written two chapbooks: All Spells Are Strong Here (Ghost City Press) and Even Curses End (Animal Heart Press), and her work has been featured in Yes Poetry, Coffin Bell Journal, and Cream City Review.

by Zach Powers The Migraine Diaries is a novel that follows a migraineur for the year following the death of his best friend, KJ. While fully fictionalized, it draws heavily from my real life circa 2005, when I had migraines several times a week and always felt as if one were about to occur. I’ve never not had migraines as an adult, but this year-long period was far worse than anything I’ve experienced before or since. Overall, the novel is an investigation of how chronic il

by Rachel Drouillard I used to type faster than her. Now, I wouldn’t stand a chance. She types loudly too, punching away at the keys on her compact silver laptop as she asks me questions. “You’re here for neck pain, right?” “Yeah.” Technically, I suppose. It’s the recent numbness in my hands that really brings me here. My typing speed has gone from 110 words per minute to less than 60. But my doctor seems convinced that numbness and pain are related. I have cervical spondylo

by Matt Kendrick lives in a lighthouse a hundred leagues from the sea. The house is a tower. The tower is still finding its feet. It was pulled down. It was put up. The waves here are silent. They are green. They are billowing fields that silently weep. Little boy lost never goes in those fields. His world is the house. The house is a harbour. He saw a real harbour once. He saw the batter of combers. He heard the howling of wind. He scrubbed the teary brine of the ocean from

by Court Ludwick Mixed media, collage; scanned linocut and charcoal layered on found paper. Court Ludwick is the author of These Strange Bodies and the founding editor-in-chief of Broken Antler . Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net, the Pushcart Prize, and Best Microfiction, and can be found in EPOCH , Washington Square Review , Denver Quarterly , and elsewhere. Court is currently based in Minneapolis, where she is working on a novel, a poetry collection, and

by Court Ludwick Mixed media, digital collage; scanned linocut and charcoal layered on found paper. Court Ludwick is the author of These Strange Bodies and the founding editor-in-chief of Broken Antler . Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net, the Pushcart Prize, and Best Microfiction, and can be found in EPOCH , Washington Square Review , Denver Quarterly , and elsewhere. Court is currently based in Minneapolis, where she is working on a novel, a poetry collecti

by Jessamyn Smyth Digital hybrid: X-ray and digital photograph hand-painted with nail polish and ink Jessamyn Smyth's poetry and prose have appeared in many journals and anthologies, and her books The Inugami Mochi (2016) and Gilgamesh/Wilderness (2021) are from Saddle Road Press. Skaha , Kitsune , and Koan Garden are available on her website: jessamynsmyth.net. Jessamyn was founding Editor in Chief of Tupelo Quarterly , and Founder/Director of Quest Writer's Conference.

by Jessamyn Smyth Digital hybrid: layered and hand-painted photographs - clear lacquer and chrome nail polish Jessamyn Smyth's poetry and prose have appeared in many journals and anthologies, and her books The Inugami Mochi (2016) and Gilgamesh/Wilderness (2021) are from Saddle Road Press. Skaha , Kitsune , and Koan Garden are available on her website: jessamynsmyth.net. Jessamyn was founding Editor in Chief of Tupelo Quarterly , and Founder/Director of Quest Writer's Con

by Jessamyn Smyth Digital hybrid: X-ray and photograph, digitally hand-painted Jessamyn Smyth's poetry and prose have appeared in many journals and anthologies, and her books The Inugami Mochi (2016) and Gilgamesh/Wilderness (2021) are from Saddle Road Press. Skaha , Kitsune , and Koan Garden are available on her website: jessamynsmyth.net. Jessamyn was founding Editor in Chief of Tupelo Quarterly , and Founder/Director of Quest Writer's Conference. She has a deep interes

by Jill Khoury Acrylic on canvas Jill Khoury (she/her) is a queer, disabled poet and artist. She holds an MFA from The Ohio State University and edits Rogue Agen t, a journal of embodied poetry and art. Her artwork has appeared in Killjoy , Brevity , and the Pittsburgh Art Vending Machine. Winner of the Gatewood Prize, her second full-length poetry collection earthwork is available from Switchback Books. Connect with her at jillkhoury.com or on Instagram @sun.day.gray.